A METHOD OF RAPID CLASSIFICATION OF TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS OVER CHINA AND ITS APPLICATION

Abstract

Using data of tropical cyclones making landfall in China between May and October each year during the 1951-2015 period from the Shanghai Typhoon Institute, China Meteorological Administration (CMA-STI) Tropical Cyclone (TC) Best Track Dataset, we developed a method of rapid classification of TC tracks based on their average movement velocities and noted three types of tracks: a westward type, a northwestward type, and a northward type. We compared the climate characteristics of the westward and northward types and discuss their corresponding causes. The results show that the westward and northward types account for more than 80% of all TCs making landfall in China. Their climate characteristics, such as the frequency, landfall intensity, duration over land, velocity over land, movement distance over land, and other changes, show both similarities and differences. Both TC types show significant increases in their over-land durations, indicating that the effects of these landfalling TCs are increasing. However, the causes of these two TC types are similar and different in certain respects. The changes in large-scale steering flows have significantly affected the frequencies and over-land velocities of the landfalling TCs of the westward and northward types. In addition, differences between the changes in formation locations of the westward and northward types may lead to significant difference in their landfall intensities.